The notion that curbing CO2 emissions would damage economic growth has been used as an excuse from developed countries such as the USA not to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy. However, the people of Austrian town Güssing are discovering firsthand that this couldn’t be further from the truth.

In The Ecology of Money, Richard Douthwaite argues that just as different insects and animals have different effects on human society and the natural world, money has different effects according to its origins and purposes. Was it created to make profits for a commercial bank, or issued by a government as a form of taxation? Or was it created by its users themselves purely to facilitate their trade? And was it made in the place where it is used, or did local people have to provide goods and services to outsiders to get enough of it to trade among themselves? The Briefing shows that it will be impossible to build a just and sustainable world, unless and until money creation is democratized. Richard says that it is potentially the most important thing he has written.

Living-and often thriving-in the cracks between the business world and the state system is an amazing variety of organisations which, according to some economists, theoretically shouldn't exist. That's because their goal is not to make profits but to meet social needs which both the market and government either can't meet nearly as well or have totally ignored.

A cross-party consensus on climate change is possible provided the parties agree to work from the same point of departure. A consensus is also highly desirable because of the radical steps that will have to be taken to respond adequately to the seriousness of the problem.

The text of this submission is included below, or download a PDF Version.…

Nuclear power promises much. It is based on a process which does not produce carbon dioxide. It is produced in a relatively small number of very large plants, so that it fits easily onto the national grid. And there is even the theoretical prospect of it being able to breed its own fuel. So, what’s the problem?…

In October, the British Government announced that Sir Nicholas Stern, the head of its Economic Service, had also been appointed its Adviser on the economics of “climate change and development”. Sir Nicholas immediately asked for submissions on, amongst other things, “The implications for energy demand and emissions of the prospects for economic growth over the coming decades.” These submissions had to be in by December 9th. Feasta’s submission sets out many of Feasta’s ideas about why rich-country growth needs to be stopped and how this can be done.

An opinion piece by Feasta’s Richard Douthwaite was recently published in the Irish Timeson November 28 2005. “As the Montreal conference on global warming opens, we cannot hope for progress on climate change unless the approach to negotiations is drastically revised.” …

Although oil prices are already causing extreme hardship to the poor in many African countries they are likely to go higher still. South Africa could use its prestige and power to work with its neighbours to prevent living standards getting even worse.

This document was printed for distribution at the energy conference in South Africa.
The full text of the document is included below, or download the PDF version.

According to the World Bank, higher energy prices can hit the poor twice as hard as those in the highest income group.1 A study in Yemen found that a $15 …

Historically, communities developed in places where resources were available. Today however, many rural communities are in decline because the use of fossil fuels has devalued their renewable energy sources, made the growing of many non-food crops irrelevant, and exposed their food products to price competition from places where land is more abundant.

This project is based on the premise that the tide may be about to turn. Restrictions on the use of fossil fuel in response to the threat of climate change and because of oil and gas depletion are about to make energy supplies scarcer and more costly. Handled correctly, this could create the circumstances in which rural communities will again be able to grow by developing their local resources, particularly those of energy.

Ireland has only two mutual building societies left – the EBS and the Irish Nationwide – and for at least ten years, Michael Fingleton of the Nationwide has made it clear that he intends that his society should follow the example of the Irish Permanent and the First National and shed its mutual status. The Department of the Environment will be putting a bill before Dail within the next few weeks which, among other things, is intended to allow the INBS to do so. …

Current Projects

News Digest

Feasta’s Mark Garavan suggests in an article in his blog that QE should be used only to buy new Solidarity Bonds issued by the European Investment Bank and European Investment Fund which then should only be used to invest in developing new Green economic activities and Green research. He goes on to suggest that the distribution mechanism should be the nation states but also, if not primarily, new regional co-operatives which co-ordinate local investment programmes in Green energy, food and social network provision.…

The UK House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee has just come out with a report on the environmental risks of fracking which makes it clear that committee members, who represent a cross-section of the British political parties, have serious doubts about the safety of fracking.

Project Feeds

Extract from a seminal report. Find it here http://www.scholarsstrategynetwork.org/content/politics-americas-fight-against-global-warming-0 NAMING THE PROBLEM What It Will Take to Counter Extremism and Engage Americans in the Fight against Global Warming by Theda Scokpol Political Scientist, Harvard, US : ” Politically speaking, the cap and dividend route has a number of advantages. Instead of building political support by […]

The Constitution does not reflect contemporary knowledge of the importance and role of the environment as the basis of enduring social and economic wellbeing. It most serious flaw and oversight is that it permits the alienation of the Nation’s natural resources by the current generation of the people of Ireland by actions of the organs of the State against the interest of the common good of generations to come of the people of Ireland.

With the aim of sharing information and resources on designed currencies, Feasta started a Facebook group in 2012 at https://www.facebook.com/groups/designercurrencies. The group has around 140 members worldwide and would be happy to have more.

Recent Comments

Fleeing Vesuvius comments

this article is from a marvelous book that addresses the kind of world we are likely to transition to in the next 1-3 generations. better yet, it addresses practical considerations for trying to maintain our civility in the face of a more hostile clima...

Recent forum posts

Michael Layden and Emer O'Siochru had a discussion about the Irish Department of Agriculture's recent document "Food Harvest 2020" - described by Michael as 'surreal' - which you can read here.

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Events

This online panel discussion, to be held on Friday November 28, is designed to explore new forms of education, intergenerational education and other emerging issues affecting healthcare and education. Four innovative thinkers - Dave Cormier, Allenna Leonard, John Walker and David Somekh - will be on the discussion panel, and Feasta trustee Seán Conlan will facilitate.

This meeting will take place on November 1st at 14:00, at the Teacher's Club in Parnell Square, Dublin. Topics covered will include " Sustainable Energy and Potential Adverse Health Effects", "Water fluoridation’s association with asthma", "Electromagnetic Radiation and Smart Meters" and "The Ecosystems Approach to Environmental Problems".

Feasta’s Graham Barnes has been asked to present and do a panel session at Open Here in Dublin, on November 14th. Open Here is “a 3-day international festival and conference where online practices such as sharing, peer-production and open source meet real world material economies.” More information is available at http://openhere.data.ie/.…

Richard Douthwaite, co-founder of Feasta and much-loved colleague and friend, died on November 14th 2011 after a long illness. We will miss his unique and far-ranging intellect, the clarity of his thought and writing, his warmth and his laughter. Tributes to him have come in from around the world and you can read them here.

Sharing for Survival comments

I came across your reference in Occupy Education by Tina Evans. I also read the Transition Towns e-letter. The move to protect resources by strengthening the indigenous communities is a powerful argument. However, the corporeate/ capital interests in Africa (the newest frontier --again) and the "war on terror" excuse to be a presense seem overwhelming forces to be fighting. I do believe the life boat analogy is an excellent one--being ready until the behemoth collapses under its own weight.

Blimey James - Sorry to continue the correspondence and please end it if you feel so, but this is important. Life is variable as the quality and quantity of the dust which revives it. The mineralsation of complex proteins into the simple elements required for plant growth is a function of a complexity of life. The whole art of husbandry is regulation of the speed of that process. Return too much fertility to a field and we increase crop yield by diminishing that of a neighbouring field.

Patrick
Not really. It's called entropy. The process that reduces complex life to dust. It happens all the time, not just by fire or pyrolysis. 'The total mass of bio' is not constant, it continually increases and decreases. By growing biomass in desert sand entropy is reversed.
James

Thanks James - Sequestration & carbon sumps are bees in my bonnet. I'll try to keep my bees under control - they are confrontational in that they oppose some central first principles of the IPCC, Zero Carbon Britain 2030 and most university departments! A little geezer becomes passionate in proportion to the mass of his opposition.

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